Kealan Wood’s rugby journey is one of resilience, and his love and passion for the sport are unmatched.
The 19-year-old from Hoërskool Roodepoort has been selected to tour Ireland as part of the first rugby team and urgently needs funding to enable him to explore opportunities overseas.
Born in a small town in KZN, Kealan’s childhood was not all moonshine and roses, and according to his mother, Lauren Wood, many hurdles were always put in front of him, but his love for sport allowed him to overcome these.
Kealan had a love for sport since primary school and participated in cricket, hockey, cycling, and swimming, but rugby was always his first love.
“His coaches would always say to me that he [Kealan] needs to play rugby – he’s built for rugby, and he loves playing rugby, so when he got to grade seven, we made the decision to relocate to Johannesburg for him to pursue his sporting career,” Wood said.
After many unsuccessful applications and being homeschooled, Kealan found a space at Hoërskool Roodepoort but after these changes, he slipped into a deep depression for which he had to be hospitalised.
“A lot changed in 2019, and the last four years were rough for him as he lost his godmother before we relocated – we had to leave our entire life behind and the dissatisfaction with homeschooling and rejection, made him depressed,” Wood said.
However, his fighting spirit saw him get up and push on with his rugby and immediately resumed training.
The North Vaal semi-finals saw him moved from U16 to the first team as a reserve and he was part of the championships league where they had won and in April, the team toured at Sundown Ranch, and Kealan was one of 14 boys from Roodies being selected to tour in Ireland.
The family thus calls on the community to help raise funds for Kealan to follow his rugby passion and anyone who would like to get involved in this cause can follow the link to his BackaBuddy campaign or contact Lauren on 076 411 5508.
